Review of Before Midnight (2013) by Matthew T — 03 Jan 2016

The contentious debate has been raging for decades--what is the great movie trilogy of all time? Is it the original Star Wars? Indiana Jones? Lord of the Rings? For me, the answer has always been Richard Linklater's "Before" trilogy. Composed of three films ("Before Sunrise," "Before Sunset," and "Before Midnight") each shot ten years apart, this trilogy tells the story of American Jesse and French Celine as they meet, fall in love, lose touch for a decade, reconnect, and eventually stay together and have two children in what is probably one of the greatest and most honest cinematic love stories of all time.

All three of these films are pretty fantastic, but "Before Midnight" has always been my personal favorite. While "Sunrise" focuses on the hopeful innocence and idealism of young love and "Sunset" is about the excitement of rekindling an old flame, by the events of "Midnight," Jesse and Celine have been together for almost ten years, and are beginning to realize that every day of a relationship is not like the one magical night they shared in Vienna almost two decades ago. This allows "Midnight" to be the most textured film of the bunch--not only does it explore the good parts of romantic love, but also the resentment, doubt, and sacrifice that become part of any long term relationship.

What makes "Midnight" such a great film is its realism. Jesse and Celine are not characters, but people. Hawke and Delpy realize their roles so fully that you actually believe the two have spent the last ten years together, and so much of their history is implied without having to be spoken aloud or explained through exposition. When they argue (and they do), it is an argument composed of little wounds and slights that have accumulated over the years, all pouring forth at once. They fight dirty and say things they don't mean, and if you've ever been in a long-term relationship, you'll cringe, because you've probably said the exact same things at some point.

I'm probably making it seem like by "Before Midnight," Jesse and Celine have become bitter, loveless, and old, but this isn't true at all. The two still love each other deeply, even if they themselves can't see it at times. The nervous, jittery, talking at a-mile-a-minute infatuation they felt for each other in the first two films has dissipated of course, but it has been replaced by something more real and honest--a deep comfortability and contentedness that comes with time. Theirs is a relationship built more off friendship and deep mutual respect than anything else. Even when they fight, it is still obvious they care for one another, and every time they can't help delivering a particularly cruel barb, you can see they regret it. They are both deeply flawed, conflicted people, but they're both trying hard to be better.

The film is technically masterful as well. The cinematography is nothing too fancy, relying more on the stunning beauty of coastal Greece to provide a pleasing visual aesthetic rather than any sort of artsy camera work, but the long, extended shots definitely add to the natural, flowing dialogue as Jesse and Celine walk the quaint Grecian streets. The film's score is beautiful as well, and for the first time, I realized that it contains musical echoes of the waltz Celine sings at the end of "Sunset," which is a nice throwback.

To me, "Before Midnight" is practically flawless, but I do realize that not everyone would appreciate similarly. Like many of Linklater's other films, "Midnight" is almost 100% dialogue and zero plot. Celine and Jesse wander from dinner to the beach to the streets of Greece, but if you're waiting for some major event to happen, don't hold your breath. The film breaks many rules of traditional cinema, and if you're someone who who is particularly fond of tidy narratives and black-and-white endings, you might not get as much out of this film as some. That being said, don't let that turn you away from this film, because if I deter even a single person from watching it in this review, I will be a failure.

On a closing note and as a bit of an aside, I will say that I really see the "Before" trilogy as one long, extended movie, best viewed one after the other, or at least in within two or three days of each other. This is the way I've watched them every single time. Each film is packed with so much nuance, and it would be a shame to forget something because you watched the films six months apart. So the next time you're thinking about marathoning the Star Wars original trilogy for the six millionth time, put it down and marathon the "Before" trilogy instead. You won't regret it.